Longtime Livermore lab physicist and “father of the modern flywheel” dies at 96

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Lawrence Livermore Lab physicist Richard “Dick” Post, the “father of the modern flywheel” who worked at the lab for 63 years, died April 7, 3015, following a short illness, lab officials said. He was 96.

WALNUT CREEK — Lawrence Livermore Lab physicist Richard “Dick” Post, the “father of the modern flywheel” who worked at the lab for 63 years, died Tuesday night following a short illness, lab officials said. He was 96.

Post joined the Livermore lab in 1952, just months after it opened. He researched magnetic fusion energy alongside luminaries such as physicists Herb York, the lab’s first director, and Edward Teller, “the father of the hydrogen bomb.”

Post retired in 1994, but continued to work, driving himself to the lab four days a week to research various projects, including his flywheel battery. He worked until the last week of his life.

An accomplished inventor, Post holds 34 patents, including nine since he turned 90. He also filed 28 records of invention, an early step in the patent process, over that period. The oldest working scientist in Livermore lab’s history, Post was bestowed with the lab’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

“Energy is the bottom line,” Post said in a Times profile in 2013. “If I’ve got an idea I can contribute, I’d like to work on it as long as I need to.”

Post was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Marylee. He is survived by children Steve, Markie, and Rodney, and six grandchildren. Daughter Markie is an actress best known for her role on TV’s “Night Court.”

In the 1980s, Pickens switched from drilling for oil to plumbing for riches on Wall Street. He led bids to take over big oil companies including Gulf, Phillips and Unocal, castigating their executives as looking out only for themselves while ignoring the shareholders.